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suspicious man who had gone into the shop two days before Batten's killing to admire the sword was constructed. Another witness, who had seen a man and his blond girlfriend try to sell a sword the same day as the murder, also used
Identikit, so both facial likenesses from the two independent witnesses were printed in local newspapers and distributed to local police officers.
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at the scene of the murder matched the shoes he was wearing. He was then picked out in an identity parade by a man he had attempted to sell the sword to. Bush wrote a full statement admitting the murder and insisting his girlfriend had nothing to do with it. He said in his statement "I am sorry I
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and an ornamental dress sword had been stolen. Her body was discovered by the shop owner Louis Meier, who helped detectives try new technology, Identikit, which used a standardised set of facial features to help a witness build a picture of a suspect. During Meier's interview, an image of a
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PC Arthur Cole spotted the couple looking in a shop window and recognised Bush from the
Identikit images. Bush was arrested and interviewed by police; he claimed innocence but his palm print was found on the dagger, his
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in May 1961 in a case that lasted just two days. He claimed his attack on Elsie was motivated solely by her making racial slurs as they haggled over the price. Bush was sentenced to death on 12 May 1961 by
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Bush was born to an
English mother and an Asian father and was taken into care at age 12 after his living conditions were deemed to be horrific. He later embarked on a life of crime and ended up in
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On March 16 Bush and his 17-year-old blond girlfriend Janet were in
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done it I don't know what came over me. Speaking personally the world is better off without me."
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Murder Mile UK True Crime
Podcast #7 - The Identikit Killing at the Curiosity Shop
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On March 3, 1961 Elsie May Batten, a 59-year-old assistant in an
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in London was found stabbed to death with an antique
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303:The Murder of Elsie May Batten at My London news
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436:20th-century executions of British people
368:Article from Metropolitan Police website
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353:Edwin Bush at British Executions.co.uk
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289:"Wanted— faces that fit the bill",
461:1961 murders in the United Kingdom
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177:and the last to be hanged at
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396:51.5107192°N 0.1280085°W
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315:Sydney Morning Herald
54:6 July 1961 (aged 21)
451:London crime history
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334:on 9 January 2009
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271:Harry Allen
215:Cecil Court
91:Citizenship
415:Categories
384:51°30′39″N
277:References
258:Old Bailey
185:Early life
101:Occupation
25:Edwin Bush
387:0°07′41″W
377:Location
338:9 January
245:shoeprint
195:Honor Oak
167:Identikit
171:executed
115:Executed
105:Labourer
191:Borstal
128:Robbery
95:British
66:England
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230:Arrest
223:dagger
205:Murder
175:London
125:Motive
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